


Air, Water, Earth… Fire

by LitesaberChick



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Last Airbender (2010)
Genre: A lot of the imagery comes from the movie, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Any suggestions?, Avatar!Zuko, Family Drama, Gen, How Do I Tag, I have not watched the show yet, I killed Aang :(, I'm Sorry, I'm putting things where they make sense in my story, If there are any inconsistencies, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, It's good so far, Messing around with timelines, Only the movie, Pre-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tags May Change, That's why I guess, Veeery AU, Why Did I Write This?, Yay started watching the show, Zuko is confused, starts, tell me nicely please, why me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-05-31 10:10:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19423834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LitesaberChick/pseuds/LitesaberChick
Summary: In one universe, a boy faced with a huge responsibility refused his responsibility and fled, being frozen in ice and found a hundred years later. In this universe, he accepts his responsibility, trains with Water and Earth… and dies. The cycle continues: Air, Water, Earth… and Fire. One hundred years later, a prince is exiled from his home and given an impossible task: Find the Avatar. However, an uncle knows a secret that will change the course of history…





	1. Prologue: The Story Thus Far...

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! I'm glad you're reading this! This is my first fic, so please be nice. Hope you enjoy!

_Four years before the destruction of the Air Nomads..._

A boy walks into a room full of objects and turns toward his mentor for guidance. “See these things? Choose four and bring them to me.” The monk leaves the room, allowing the boy to choose in privacy. The boy walks slowly around the room, examining each object in turn. He chooses one object, then another, then another. Finally, he chooses the last one and leaves the room, seeing of all of the monks and students in the temple standing behind a small table. His mentor stands directly behind the table, smiling in encouragement. The boy places all his choices on the table and backs up nervously. The monks all see the objects, and know. The boy is the Avatar. The gathered people all bow to the Avatar, and the boy knows the responsibilities of the Avatar and the things the Avatar must do. And…

 _(In one universe, the boy flees. He finds his sky-bison and flies away, trying to continue being a child and avoiding the truth of his heritage. He is trapped in ice and is found years later, forced to take the mantle of the Avatar once more.)_

the boy bows back, accepting his role as the Avatar.

* * *

The boy travels to the North, seeking a teacher for the skills he needs to learn. The people of the North greet him gladly, agreeing to teach him Water. He learns quickly, mastering waterbending at a rate that astonishes his teachers. However, the boy has turned 14 before his teachers allow him to leave the North, content with his mastery of Water, and the Fire Nation is growing stronger.

The Fire Nation is not content with the land it controls and its own people, and the Fire Lord knows that the Avatar will stand in his way. The Comet is coming very soon, and the Lord wishes to use the power of the Comet to utterly destroy the Nation the Avatar comes from, the Air Nomads. However, if the Lord can find the Avatar before the Comet comes, he will spare some of the Nomads though destroying the majority of them to reduce the possible resistance to his reign.

Unaware of the Fire Lord’s plots, the boy travels to the Earth Kingdom, seeking a teacher. He cannot find a teacher quickly, and when he does, he struggles to master earthbending. On the eve of his sixteenth birthday, the Comet comes and the Fire Nation attacks both the Air temples and the Earth settlement the boy resides in. Two vicious battles ensue, the Avatar using the skills he has learned to defend the people who have happily hosted him.

However, the Avatar is far too outnumbered. He is captured and brought before theFire Lord, who taunts him with the knowledge that the Air Nomads are all but destroyed. The Avatar knows to bide his time, but it is too late. The Fire Lord kills the boy. The Avatar from the Air Nomads is dead.

* * *

_Sixteen years after Sozin’s Comet..._

A girl stands before the elders of the city. They lead her to a room to choose from objects, and she chooses the same ones as her predecessors. She is the Avatar, and she has mastered Water far quicker than her peers. The Northern Water Tribe knows that she will be hunted by the Fire Nation, and so they encourage her to wait to learn the skills of Earth until the Fire Nation has become complacent. So she waits.

On her twentieth birthday, she ventures out into the Earth Kingdom, searching for a teacher. As the Fire Nation has taken control of much of the Earth Kingdom, finding a teacher is hard, and many of the earthbenders she encounters refuse to teach her. She searches and searches, and finally finds someone willing to teach her. But, the Fire Nation is now aware of her presence and hunts her and her teacher mercilessly. For forty years, she is forced to run, helping any who need it. Her teacher killed after only teaching her half of what she needs, she is forced to learn in secret, only gaining mastery of earthbending after that forty years. For the next fifteen years, she attempts to find someone who will teach her Fire, but to no avail. She is an old women when the soldiers finally catch up to her, and though she is a master of two elements, she is still old, and is killed in battle after decimating the Fire Lord’s most elite soldiers. The Avatar from the Water Tribes is dead.

_Eight years later…_

Prince Iroh of the Fire Nation watches impassively as his soldiers raid a small village in the heart of the Earth Kingdom. The soldiers search for every child between seven and nine years old and bring them before the prince. He watches, squashing a tiny pang of guilt, as five children are dragged through the dirt before him. He turns, taking three objects from the cart behind him, a feather on a string, an unlit candle, and a jar of water. One by one, he tests the children, until… an eight year old girl. In front of her, the feather twirls on it’s string without a breeze, the candle’s flame lengthens, and the water forms a perfect circle on the ground instead of sinking in. Seeing this, the soldiers carry out their orders. Dragging the girl away and throwing her on the ground, the firebenders ready their flame. The prince and the villagers can only watch as the girl is used as a human torch, and as the fire subsides, all that is left is a charred skeleton. The Avatar from the Earth Kingdom is dead.

_Nine months later…_

Iroh watches as a servant leaves the birthing room and approaches his brother. “The child is a boy. Do you wish to see him, Your Highness?”

“I do.”

As he watches his brother follow the servant out of the hallway, Iroh hears a voice. “Father? What is happening?”

Iroh turns to his only son, and answers, “Your cousin has just been born and your uncle has gone to see him.”

“Do you wish to see him, Father?”

“Perhaps. Now, do you not have lessons to attend?”

As his son hurries to make it to his lessons, Iroh turns his attention back to the door. He feels unsettled, although he is not sure why. The servant comes back out with his brother as Iroh ponders the feeling, though he quickly dismisses it. There is no reason to feel unsettled in the heart of the Fire Nation, and as the Prince and soon to be General, he has better things to worry about than an unsettling feeling.

* * *

_Four hundred children were born to the Fire Nation that day. One of them is the Avatar from the Fire Nation…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, questions, concerns? Always looking for feedback! I've only watched the movie, so please let me know (nicely!) if anything is inaccurate! Hope you enjoyed!!


	2. Chapter 1: Family Drama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternatively, Iroh is sad, Ozai is a jerkface, and now Iroh is confused. When did Ozai become Fire Lord anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Hope you enjoy! And now, family drama in the Fire Nation...

_93 years after Sozin’s Comet…_

General Iroh, Dragon of the West, holds back tears as he writes out the battle report for the end of the siege of Ba Sing Se. His son, his only son, was dead. The siege had been highly effective, but it did not matter anymore. As he writes out the official report, he ponders the reason he should point to as the reason he retreated. If he writes the true reason, he will become a laughingstock in court. After pondering for some time, he decides to point to the exhaustion of his troops as the reason for retreat. It had been a long siege after all.

After completing his report, he exits his quarters on his flagship and walks up to the bow of the ship to look over the water. “General! The course has been set for the Capital.”

“Good. When will we arrive?”

“In two weeks, sir,” the captain of the ship answered.

Hm. Maybe he will arrive in time to see his nephew for his birthday. “Very good. I will be in my quarters,” the general informs the captain and returns there. Iroh sits back down at his desk, beginning a letter to inform his father, the Fire Lord, that the siege has failed and that his grandson is dead. After finishing the letter, Iroh sends for a servant, who takes the letter and takes it down to the mailboat. The letter should arrive within the next week, and Iroh makes a cup of soothing tea, lights a candle, and settles down to grieve in peace.

* * *

_One week later…_

Fire Lord Azulon stares in horror and anger down at the letter on his desk. The siege has failed and his grandson is dead?! Calming himself slightly, he stands and paces the room. How did his oldest son manage to fail like that? After calming himself down most of the way, he summons his second son, Prince Ozai. The prince enters the office and bows the appropriate amount. “Your brother has failed me.”

“What do you mean, my lord?”

“The siege has failed, and your nephew is dead. Your brother is returning now, and will arrive in one week.”

* * *

Prince Ozai could not believe what he just heard. Had Iroh failed that badly? If he had… maybe _he_ could take the throne instead! Biting back an exclamation of joy, Ozai asks, “What will happen when my brother returns?”

“He will be reprimanded for failing, but…” The Fire Lord is interrupted by a servant knocking on the door to his office. Ozai did not pay any attention to the words exchanged by the servant and his father. If Iroh will be reprimanded, that also means that he could be stripped of his rank as Crown Prince. Barely containing his excitement, he asks his father as he turns back to him, “Iroh has failed in his mission. Would you consider making… _me_ the heir to the throne?”

* * *

The Fire Lord just stares at his son. How could he think that way?! Iroh had just lost his son, and now his brother wants to take the one other thing he will gain from him?? Ire building, the Fire Lord’s stare turns into a glare and he exclaims angrily, “You dare ask such a question? Your brother has just lost his only son, and now you ask me to strip his birthright from him!NO, I will not give you what you ask! Such insolence cannot be tolerated. Your brother has faced a terrible cost in his failure, and you do not understand. You must understand your brother’s pain. Kill your oldest son, Zuko, and share your brothers pain! Do not show your face to me again until Zuko is dead.”

The Fire Lord turns away and listens for his son to leave. Once the door has slammed shut after his son, he sits back in his chair and ponders what he just did. Zuko did not deserve death, but neither did Lu Ten. Ozai must be punished for his insolence, and it is unfortunate that Zuko will be in the crossfire. Feelings on the matter firm, the Fire Lord returns to his work.

* * *

_Three days later…_

The Fire Lord is dead. Evidence had been brought forth that his last wish had been that Prince Ozai would be the next Fire Lord. Ozai is content. He watches smugly as preparations are made for his, not Iroh’s coronation. He thinks, with just a tiny pang of regret, of his wife’s disappearance. She had urged him to spare their son’s life, but Ozai had told her of his father’s last words to him. She had convinced him to kill his father, making an undetectable poison that Ozai could use to kill his father. He had agreed, but told her that a poisoner would never be trusted in court and that she would be quietly banished if Ozai went through with her plan. The next morning, Fire Lord Azulon was pronounced dead of natural causes and Princess Ursa had disappeared. The whole mess is regrettable, he thinks, but necessary.

A servant walks up to Ozai, and says, “The ceremony is ready, Your Highness.”

“Good.”

And the soon to be Fire Lord returns to his magnificent rooms in the palace to ready himself for his crowning.

* * *

Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation watches beside his sister Azula as their father strides up the aisle to be crowned as the next Fire Lord. “Isn’t this great brother? If father becomes the Fire Lord, then one of us will be the next!”

Zuko did not answer. Azula was right of course, but he also knew that she meant that she would most likely become the next Fire Lord, not him. She was much more naturally talented than him, despite being a year younger. So, the court would like her much more than him. At that depressing thought, he watches as his father accepts the title of Fire Lord, and he is crowned.

* * *

_Four days later…_

Prince Iroh watches as his ship drifts forward to dock at a pier in the capital city. He had arrived just in the nick of time, as today is his nephew’s tenth birthday. As he disembarks his ship, he hears people talking about a Fire Lord Ozai. Confused, he asks a soldier, “What is going on? I hear others speaking of ‘Fire Lord Ozai’.”

“The Fire Lord died a few nights ago in his sleep, Your Highness. His last command was that His Highness would become Fire Lord.”

Iroh is dumbstruck and walks the short distance to the palace in a daze. “Brother! Did you hear the news? Father decreed that I would be the Fire Lord. I will still allow you to be General of course, but you did fail in the siege you were supposed to be victorious in.”

Iroh just looks at his brother, unimpressed. “Of course I did… Your Grace.” He bows the proper amount to his brother. “I believe it is Zuko’s birthday today. I would be remiss as an uncle to not wish him a happy birthday today.”

Iroh strides away from his brother, mind whirling with conflicting thoughts and feelings, and seeks out his nephew to wish him a happy birthday.

* * *

_The Fire Nation has a new Fire Lord. However, where is the Avatar? He has not been found, and only a few are aware to look in the Fire Nation…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 2: Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fire Nation is looking for the Avatar. But will they find him?

_Two days after Prince Zuko’s 10th birthday_

Prince Iroh sits in the Fire Lord’s strategy chamber watching as other high ranking members of the court file in and take their seats. When everyone is seated, fire lights up around the Fire Lord’s seat, and Fire Lord Ozai sits in his throne. “Everyone here is aware of the hunt for the Avatar. Has anyone succeeded yet?” the Fire Lord asked.

A chorus of “no”s and “not yet”s came from the gathered court members as they report their findings. Iroh watches in silence as the other court members hastily explain the reasons for not finding the Avatar, and finally the Fire Lord speaks over the noise. “Enough! I see that none of you have found anything about the Avatar. Now, for the next few months, your orders are the same: Test every child who turns ten years of age between now and the next meeting, and if you find the Avatar, bring the child to the palace. Dismissed.” As everyone rises to leave, Iroh hears his brother’s voice again. “General Iroh! Stay behind.”

Iroh stays as his brother instructed, and when all the other members of court left, said to his brother, “My Lord, what do you ask of me?”

“As you know, my son has just celebrated his tenth birthday, and he has not been tested yet. You will oversee his testing, and report back to me with the ones he chooses by tonight.”

Shocked, Iroh tamps down his initial reaction and bows to his brother. “It shall be done, my Lord.”

“Good. You are dismissed.”

As Iroh walks out of the chamber, his mind whirls with confusion. Isn’t it the father’s duty to test the child, if the father is aware of the hunt? Why is Ozai foisting the duty off on Iroh? Only a few know that the Avatar is alive in the Fire Nation, as most citizens think that the Avatar from the Earth Kingdom still lives. Iroh knows the truth, as do most of the high ranking officials and officers of court. He knows that the search for the Avatar is of utmost importance… so _why is he having second thoughts_?

* * *

Prince Zuko waits outside a door the servants told him he should wait next to. He wonders what this is all about. Is this a test of some sort, or a lesson? If it is either of those, he worries that he will not do well enough, and then Azula will mock him! He loves his sister, but she can be a real meanie sometimes. Suddenly, he hears his Uncle saying, “There you are, Prince Zuko! I was wondering where you were.”

“I was just waiting here, Uncle. The servants said I needed to wait next to this door.”

“Ah, I see. There is a reason for that! And I will tell you the reason in a few seconds. Stay here.” Zuko stands waiting as his uncle enters the room behind the door and rummages around for a couple minutes. Curious, Zuko pokes his head in the doorway, but does not manage to see anything before his uncle gently pushes his head out the door with a “patience, Zuko!”

Finally, Uncle walks out of the room and turns to Zuko, but before he can speak, Zuko bursts out, “What are you doing, Uncle? What is in that room?”

“I was just going to explain that to you, young one, before you interrupted,” Uncle chides gently. “This is a test that all children your age must take. It is very simple one. Go into that room, and choose four objects. I do not care which, just choose ones that catch your fancy. Once you are done, bring me the ones you chose.”

Just pick four things? How is that a test? Maybe Uncle’s going crazy. Swallowing his questions, Zuko slowly walks into the room, seeing many objects, small and large. He slowly paces around the room, picking up and putting down most of the ones that caught his eye. However, he had to pick four, so he ends up holding four in his hands. Confused, he stares at the ones he held onto. They seem…familiar. But he _knew_ that he had never seen them before! He leaves the room, gives them to his uncle, and flees down to his rooms. “Where are you going, big brother?”

He did not answer Azula, just keeps going and locks himself in his rooms. He had never seen them before. He _hadn’t_!

* * *

Prince Iroh juggles the objects that Zuko had shoved into his hands, trying to keep them from hitting the ground. Once they are settled in his hands, he examines them closer, then just stares. Could it be? The scrolls said that the ones Zuko had just chosen are the same as the ones Avatar Roku had chosen… and every other Avatar, before or since. He knows that this means… Zuko is the Avatar!? How could this be? His goofy, cheerful nephew that loves almost everyone he meets (even when it is not wise)? 

Iroh contemplates what Zuko being the Avatar would mean. Fire Lord Azulon had decreed that the Fire Avatar, when found, should be brought to the palace and taught the ways of the Fire Lords court (and Ozai shows every indication that he will uphold this decree). The Avatar would be indoctrinated into thinking the Fire Nation is always right, even when it is not, and just become a tool of the Fire Lord. Iroh knows that is not what the Avatar truly is meant to be. The Avatar is to be an advocate for every nation, not just one. He should be free to mediate between the nations, not subjugate any of them.

So, he is faced with a decision: To tell the truth and have Zuko be used as a tool of the Fire Lord, or to lie and betray his Nation. What should he do?

* * *

Fire Lord Ozai hears a servant speak as he waits for his brother to come with the results of the test. Not hearing what was said, he snaps, “What was that? Say it again.” 

“My Lord, General Iroh is here to see you.”

“Good. Send him in.”

Ignoring the servants response, Ozai watches his brother enter the room and waits as his brother bows. He keeps his silence far longer than necessary, enjoying his brother’s discomfort. Finally, he asks, “What were the results of the test?”

Instead of answering aloud, Iroh pulls out a cloth, unwrapping it and showing four objects. “My Lord, the scrolls tell of the ones that the Avatar will choose. These… are not the ones. Your son is not the Avatar.”

* * *

_“The Avatar has been found. But only one person knows... and has chosen not to tell anyone, even lying to his own brother…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! *waves* I just started watching the show, so updates will probably come slower as I try to watch the show as quickly as possible. Fortunately, I write quickly, so when I am writing, that means an update will come soon! Tell me what you think! (It gives me motivation!)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, questions, concerns? Always looking for feedback! Hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
